-Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling

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Happy Independence Day everyone!

BTW....

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I JUST BOUGHT MY TICKETS TO SEE HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE! I am going at 12:01 am on July 15th (The night of July 14th) OMG I SO CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GAWD! I am SUCH A POTTERGEEK! I'm even gonna wear my Gryffindor Tie and Hogwarts hat (You know...the totally dorky black pointy one that they only wore in the first movie! LOL)

Thanks to my beta, Crimsonangel23! Mucho luv-ieos to ya girl... even if you did desert me this past week to do something totally unnecessary! LOLOLOLOL(you know I'm kidding and really happy for you, right?) BTW, if this chapter is a mess, it's not her fault, it's mine! And YEAH...I know it's a holiday and all that crap...but come ON...I NEED REVIEWS!! I am currently working on the final chapter so this story will probably conclude in the next two weeks or so.

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"Luna." Arthur said softly as he sat in the chair across from her. "I'm afraid the news isn't the best."

"Daddy..." She stumbled over the words "He's dead... isn't he?"

"No." Arthur shook his head sadly "He has been found alive...but..."

"He's alive?" Luna looked up sharply, her mouth just beginning to curve into a smile. "He'll be able to come home soon then?"

Arthur looked at Luna, his face incredibly grim. "Luna, he's in St. Mungo's. It wasn't until another patient came out of a coma that they were able to get an idea of who he was. St. Mungo's contacted the ministry and Kingsley Shacklebolt contacted me to make a positive identification. Percy and I have just come from there. The man we saw was unmistakably your father."

Luna looked confused. "But...he's alive...?"

"He is, but, he's been in a coma for a very long time, since he was found outside of Azkaban shortly after the ministry retook control. Luna, his condition isn't good."

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Loony for Luna

Chapter Seventeen

Letting Go

Part Two

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Luna clung tightly to George's arm as they walked the quiet hallways of St. Mungo's. She felt weak, sick to her stomach and she was afraid that if she made the wrong move she would faint. George watched her closely...afraid of that very thing.

"Are you okay?" George asked as they stepped onto the elevator "I can get your a wheelchair if you'd rather."

"No." Luna said softly "I'm fine."

"Luna..."

"I said I'm fine George." Anger laced Luna's voice, then it cleared as fast as it had come on. She shook her head, ashamed that she had lashed out at George like that. "I'm sorry." she said as she struggled to control the tears that threatened. "I don't mean to take it out on you. I'm just...I'm scared..."

"Of course you are." George reached down for her hand. "If it helps, feel free to yell at me as much as you want."

Luna gave him a small smile as the elevator ground to stop.

"Careful." she cautioned "I may take you up on that."

The doors slid open and a healer stepped forward as they stepped off the elevator.

"Miss Lovegood? The front desk told me you were on your way up." The healer took her hand "I'm Healer Delphinius Drake, I am in charge of your fathers care."

"My father..."

"He's just down this hallway, in the cardiac care unit. I was hoping to speak with you before you see him."

He motioned into a small office just off the bank of elevators. Luna followed, her mind in a daze. George watched her closely, watching for any signs that Luna might be faltering. Instead, she sat calmly into the chair that Healer Drake offered and George took her hand into his.

"Miss Lovegood." Drake said as he sat down across the desk from them "As you know, once word spread of you-know-who's defeat, there was mass rioting at Azkaban. You father was brought in with a large number of unidentified injured, he appeared to have suffered cardiac arrest. We became concerned when he stabilized but failed to regain consciousness. He's suffered several more instances of cardiac arrest since then, the most recent two days ago."

"But..." Luna began, her hand squeezing down tight on George's "Why isn't he waking up?"

The healer looked up at Luna, his eyes bearing the mark of someone about to give extremely bad news.

"One of our patients came out of a coma last night and he identified your father, that is why we were finally able to notify you of his whereabouts. He was also able to give us information that we did not have before."

"Information?" Luna looked more afraid than George had ever seen her.

"I'm afraid that there is no easy way to say this Miss Lovegood." He stopped and took a deep breath "The man who identified your father also witnessed him being attacked...by a dementor."

"A dementor?" Luna began breathing heavily, her chest heaving with the effort "You don't mean..."

"I'm sorry..." Healer Drake looked at Luna, his eyes sad " But your father was kissed."

"You...you could be wrong...maybe the person that man saw wasn't my father..."

"I wish I could tell you that's a possibility Miss Lovegood. But..."
Healer Drake looked at Luna sympathetically "We ran a series of tests on your father, and all our results confirmed the dementors kiss"

Luna's face went pale as her hand gripped hard onto George's. He put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him.

"I know this isn't easy Miss Lovegood." He took a deep breath "Your father is being held to life by a powerful life sustaining spell. We put it on him when he was first brought in, not realizing that he had been kissed."

Luna looked up, her eyes weary of the words to come "and...?"

"Once the spell is in place, it can only be removed with a family members permission."

Luna gasped and put her hand over her mouth. "You're asking me for permission to kill my father?"

"No." Healer Drake looked at Luna sympathetically "I'm asking for your permission to let him go."

"But if he has been kissed..." Luna shuddered "He can never have his soul back..."

"Not in this world, no." Healer Drake looked at Luna sadly "But , as horrible as this situation is, there is a small ray of hope. New studies support the theory that after the kiss, the soul passes through the dementor and then lingers in our world until the time that the body of the kissed achieves physical death. Once the body dies, the soul is freed to move on to the next world."

"So what you're saying..." George spoke for the first time "is, if he is taken off the spell, and his body dies..."

"We believe, that his soul will be set free too." Healer Drake finished

"But...how long will he live? I mean...once the spell is lifted?" Luna asked

"I'm sorry Miss Lovegood...There's really no way of knowing. He's stable right now. It could be a few minutes, a few hours...maybe even a few days."

"Weeks?" Luna asked hesitantly "Months?"

"It's possible." Healer Drake nodded "But, given your fathers cardiac condition, I would be more likely to count on hours, most likely it will be minutes."

George tightened his arm around Luna.

"I want to see him." Luna said softly

"Of course."

"I can't decide anything until I've seen him."

Healer Drake nodded, then he rose and lead them down the hallway to the cardiac care ward, he stopped and pushed a door open.

"I'll leave you here. Please, take all the time you need." Luna nodded and walked past him, George right behind her.

"Daddy." Luna slid down into the chair next to the bed and picked up his hand. Xenophilius looked pale and wasted in the hospital bed, his body covered in flawless white sheets and a myriad of tubes ran around his body.

"George..."

George stepped up next to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know what to do George."

George sighed and put his arm around her "You'll do the right thing."

"But what is the right thing?"

"Nobody can know that but you." George wiped her tears away with his thumb. "I know it's hard, but if you are going to do this, you have to do it because you know it's the right thing. Because you know in your heart it's what your father would have wanted you to do."

"It's been just me and Daddy since Mummy died." Luna took a deep breath and turned back to her father. " Did you know, Daddy had to make a choice just like this after the accident?"

"I didn't." He said softly as he knelt down next to the chair and took her free hand

"Yes." She nodded "Mummy was hurt so badly...in her brain stem... The healer said that even if she woke up, she would never be the same. She wouldn't be able to eat by herself or take care of herself. She would have had to spend the rest of her life in a special hospital for people who couldn't get better." She was quiet for a minute, and then she spoke so softly that George wondered afterward if he had imagined it. "I wonder...if I don't sign the papers if Daddy will have to go to one of those places?"

"I don't know." George felt like his heart was breaking. Watching Luna in physical pain was nothing compared to this. There was nothing George could do to make this pain go away. There was no procedure, no miracle. George felt the most helpless he had ever felt.

"Daddy told me once, that letting Mummy go was the hardest thing he had ever done. But, said that keeping her alive like that would have been selfish, because there was no hope that she would ever be the same person again. He said that we would have been forcing her to live a life that she would have hated." She took a deep breath "He wouldn't have liked this...but...I don't know...what if I do it and then regret it?"

"I think, if your sure of what you think your father would have wanted, it will be okay. I don't mean it will be easy...it will never be okay that you lost him...but you'll have the consolation of knowing that you did what your father would have wanted. But...You need to listen to what your heart is telling you to do."

"My heart is telling me to let him go." She looked at George with liquid eyes and her tears broke free to pour down her face "Daddy wouldn't want this. He can't get better...but, if there's the slightest chance that his soul can pass on...he'd want to go to be with mum again."

"George..."Luna let go of George's hand "I think...I think I'm ready to sign."

George nodded and stepped out of the room, a moment later he returned, a healers assistant with him. She handed Luna a clipboard with the form and she explained the paperwork.

"Your sure about this then?" George kissed her forehead

"It's the right thing" Luna nodded and leaned over the bed. She rubbed her cheek against her fathers and then kissed his cheek.

"I love you daddy." Luna's voice broke and her tears fell on her fathers face. "I love you so much."

She sat up again and wiped the tears from her face, then, she signed.

"I'll get this to Healer Drake." The healers assistant took the clipboard and just before she left she touched Luna's shoulder gently "If you need anything, just point your wand at the sensor."

"Thank you." When she was gone Luna picked up her fathers hand and held it in hers "It's done Daddy...you'll be with Mum again soon."

Healer Drake arrived fifteen minutes later.

"You've made your decision?" He asked softly as he touched Luna's shoulder "You're sure?"

"Yes." Luna said sadly "Please, do what you have to."

Healer Drake pulled his wand from his pocket and stepped up to the bed.

"Helivius Rehleasio"

He put his hand on Luna's shoulder "I'm sorry we couldn't do more."

"There was nothing you could do..." Luna gave him a soft smile "But, you've taken good care of him, thats enough."

He nodded and left the room while Luna turned back to her father, his hand clenched tightly in hers.

"When I was a little girl" She said, a small smile on her face. "I was badly afraid of storms. Daddy use to come into my room and he would sing to me. Even when I got older, he would sing and everything would be okay."

-Flashback-

"Daddy!" Luna sat in the middle of her bed, her hands over her ears. "I'm scared! It's so loud!"

"Shhhh" Xenophilius crossed the room and sat on the side of the bed. "It's okay angel. Daddy's here." He picked her up and pulled her into his lap. "Nothing can hurt you while I'm here."

"Daddy..." Luna looked up at him with trusting eyes. "Sing to me...please?"

"What would you like me to sing?"

"You know." Luna giggled a little. How silly for Daddy to ask, she always wanted the same song. "The lullaby"

"Okay then." He smiled "But you have to close your eyes."

Luna obeyed and cuddled deeper into her fathers arms as he began to sing.

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Sweet precious one

Don't be alarmed

Your Daddy is here

To keep you from harm

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Take hold of my hand

Fly away with me

I'll take you away

Far from this angry sea

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To a land of princes and princesses

And magic rings

With iced sugar castles

And other nice things

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Nothing to fear love

You'll come to no harm

Just go on and dream love

You're safe in my arms.

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-End Flashback-

Luna held her fathers hand in both of hers and placed it next to her cheek. She closed her eyes and then, she began to sing the lullaby. As she finished the song, the monitor next to the bed flatlined.

Xenophilius Lovegood was gone.

Luna lay forward and rested her cheek on his still chest, her tears wetting the sheets. George sat next to her and lightly rubbed her back and shoulders as he felt more and more helpless. Nothing he could say or do would make this better. He knew from experience the only thing that would...was time.

"George...I..." Luna sat up and turned to him "I know...we decided that you were going to move out today, but..." She cut off as George pulled his arms around her and pulled her closer.

"Hey...I promised didn't I? That I would stay with you for as long as you need me."George pulled back and brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers "I'm not going anywhere."

Luna gave him a small nod and then buried herself back in the safety of his arms.

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-Just an after-note. If you've read a lot of my George and Luna stuff you might have recognized the Lullaby that Xenophilius sang to Luna. It's called "Far From The Angry Sea" and it originally appeared in "The Storm Before Dawn" I made a few minor changes, but, mostly it remains the same.

If you've never read that story, go give it a looksy!

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Chapter 18 Preview

In the aftermath of

Xenophilius' death an innocent

request leads to something

unexpected.

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Chapter 19 Preview

The new understanding

between George and Luna has been

destroyed! Luna will make a painful decision

that will tear them apart forever.

But will George let her go through

with it?

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